His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama @ NSU

Today I went to go see His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama it was so interesting hearing his insights into the global responsibility and on aspects of compassion. And I was actually able to apply some of his thoughts to my own life.

What I thought was EXTREMELY cool was that he has gotten 80 degrees from colleges and universities around the world. Today, Broward College gave him a Bachelor's degree in Education for his humanitarian efforts and teachings. The Dalai Lama had such a sense of humor! He said "how wonderful it was to get a degree without having to go to school" (he called himself a lazy student). As with his sense of humor, the Dalai Lama was pretty laidback. He sat criss-cross in his chair and was just chilling, like the kind of dude you could just hang out with and have a conversation with.

He stated that he has two committments. The first is to promote inner human values, which is just as essential, if not more essential, than knowledge. His second is to promote harmony, in the Buddhist tradition, and a genuine understanding of others despite differences. Both of those things are so important, and I wish he could have elaborated on it a bit more because I think every person needs to have a sense of both those things, especially understanding despite differences.

His main topic of discussion was Universal Responsibility [Global Compassion]. Compassion, he says, has two levels. One is an attached level (like with a mother) and the other is an unattached, unbiased care towards another human being. Global compassion refers to the latter. He stated that most people have national and personal interests but forget about global interests and issues. Our future depends on the actions on other parts of the world, and we need to remember that. The United States has a responsibility to act globally, since we are a democratic state. On the economic crisis, he said people put too much emphasis on the woes of the economy and people need to remember the United States as a nation of liberty and democracy. Money is important but we must remember other values. He said in times of difficulties, he himself thinks of the positive moral values. I need to apply this concept to my own life. I often take for granted all the good things I have going on when there is something bad or stressful happening. I think of what I dont have instead of what I do have.

The next part of the speech was a Question and Answer part. It was cool that he took the time to answer people's questions. There were about 10 questions. One question regarded what him and President Obama talked about at their recent meeting (he joked that it was "TOP SECRET" but later told us that they discussed Tibetan problems and that the President expressed concern over his well-being, "which was impressive", ie "Are you thirsty;comfortable?" etc). The question that impacted me the most was about forgiveness and how one could forgive someone else without holding any resentment towards them. The Dalai Lama said that forgiveness does not mean acceptance, forgiveness is to stop the wrongdoing. As a human being, the person deserves compassion, not hatred and if there is to be hatred it should be toward the action rather than the person, there should be no negativity towards the person. He stressed that you should forgive but not forget because forgetting defies forgiveness. This is something I can and should apply to my own life. There is someone who hurt me and I thought I forgave them, but I really didn't, not in the way he stresses. And walking around with hatred towards the person does not make my life any easier.

All in all, I am really glad I got the opportunity to go see him talk.

A Precious Human Life:

"Every day, think as you wake up,

Today I am fortunate to have woken up.

I am alive; I have a precious human life.

I am not going to waste it.

I am going to use

All my energies to develop myself,

To expand my heart out to others,

To achieve enlightenment for

The benefit of all beings.

I am going to have kind

Thoughts towards others;

I am not going to get angry

Or think badly of others.

I am going to benefit others

As much as I can."

-His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama